V23|NO26
Tonight at The Country Club. Don’t miss it!
Joe Neal Jr. started serving his 100 hours of community service right where he was ordered to do it — the wastewater treatment plant. Sure, it the Reed Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant and not the wastewater treatment plant everyone wanted it to be — you know, the big one down by the airport — but contrary to what they’d have you believe, Columbia County’s stuff stinks, too, and even if he was washing trucks instead of shoveling the poo, he was within whiffing distance of the bubbling, gurgling goop. More serious, however, was the fact that U.S. District Court Judges Randal Hall and Dudley Bowen wrote an order basically barring Neal, who of course was accused of raping his teenaged babysitter and pled guilty to the three misdemeanors that sent him to the wastewater treatment plant, from appearing before the court during his probationary period. Legal insiders are praising the order, saying that membership in the federal bar and the ability to practice before the federal court is a privilege, not a right. Hall and Bowen may suffer some social awkwardness because of it, they say, but they acted in the best interest of the bar, the court and, most importantly, the best interest of the litigants before the court.
28JUNE2012
After I read the article that was published in the Metro Spirit last December that spoke about Coptic Christians, their persecution in Egypt and the fear some of them felt regarding the local Islamic Center, I discussed the article with my family members and some friends, who agreed with some of the people quoted in the story that the center is part of terrorism or at least radicalism. I took the courageous step of visiting the mosque in Augusta. It was a very warming visit, especially after I met Dr. Fadel and learned that he was the physician who helped in delivering my son. I visited the center several times until Friday, June 8 2012, when I was seriously shocked to hear a young African Imam with an accent delivering a speech attacking the Americans, saying “We should defy them before they defy us,” repeating that several times and asking the congregation to hate this nation, to terrorize them before they terrorize us. I left with a deep frustration, and my advice to this young man is to preach in Darfur and not here, because this nation is not terrorizing anyone. Instead, our troops are sacrificing their lives due to the official request from the leaders and the people of those countries to help them establishing democracy or to respond to the group that came and attacked this peaceful land in 9-11. What I heard is a fact and can’t be changed because it was taped on my cell phone and brought back to let others hear. It was my intention to correct their thoughts, but it ended up that I’m the one that should open my eyes and see the truth.
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So it Begins…
Letter to the Metro Spirit
Mark Flintz Augusta
Joe Neal Jr. begins his community service work at the sewage treatment plant… wearing overalls.
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The daily’s solution to those making offensive comments about Augusta Pride 2012 pictures posted to their Facebook page? Take down all the pictures. Because that makes much more sense that deleting the offending comments.
AUGUSTA’S INDEPENDENT VOICE SINCE 1989
METROSPIRIT
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